Sk8n Reefer Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Sticks are looking happy ? Great job Link to comment
evan127 Posted May 19, 2016 Author Share Posted May 19, 2016 A little update The reef took a nasty left turn a couple weeks ago. I've lost a lot of coral. Luckily I haven't lost any fish. After a lot of thought, I will be doing a reboot. I feel like now is a good time to start (90%) fresh. All my fish will stay with me, as well as a few frags I have saved. The rock work will go and start anew. I have a very cool, minimalist aquascape curing as we speak. Which has inspired a new name for a new reef. Stay tuned for 2.0! Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted May 19, 2016 Share Posted May 19, 2016 A little update The reef took a nasty left turn a couple weeks ago. I've lost a lot of coral. Luckily I haven't lost any fish. After a lot of thought, I will be doing a reboot. I feel like now is a good time to start (90%) fresh. All my fish will stay with me, as well as a few frags I have saved. The rock work will go and start anew. I have a very cool, minimalist aquascape curing as we speak. Which has inspired a new name for a new reef. Stay tuned for 2.0! What happened? sorry to hear that. Link to comment
evan127 Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 I think what triggered the RTN was changing too much at once. I changed out the entire sand bed and the type salt at the same time. All of my parameters did not change from the normal targets though. dKH - 7.8, Ca - 420, Mg - 1280 with 0.02 increase in PO4. It must have been bacterial. Dumb mistake. Link to comment
markalot Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 I think what triggered the RTN was changing too much at once. I changed out the entire sand bed and the type salt at the same time. All of my parameters did not change from the normal targets though. dKH - 7.8, Ca - 420, Mg - 1280 with 0.02 increase in PO4. It must have been bacterial. Dumb mistake. Sorry to hear it, but of course you know I've been there too. Link to comment
evan127 Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 The dry rock is going to cure until June 3rd, then it's coming out and going into the aquarium. I'm also going to do a 100% water change before the frags I've saved and fish go back in. I might leave the sand bed untouched to hopefully prevent any algae outbreaks. Link to comment
jstuver Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 Yikes I'm so sorry! I'm sure you'll have things back and better than ever! Link to comment
evan127 Posted May 22, 2016 Author Share Posted May 22, 2016 Thanks Jackie. I have big plans for this next version of my reef. Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 The sand I have was collected locally by a local forum member. At the time, he did some analysis on the sand (whatever that might entail) and concluded that it was perfectly safe to use in reefs and not a silica sand. I am beginning to think otherwise. Looking through my local forum I have come across others with similar issues with sand from the same source. Plus a very heated debate. I've had it for years (as well as this recurring diatom outbreak) and I think its time for a change. Any thoughts? The rock from that area will leech some phosphates into the water (manageable). Stay away from the sand tho... IMO the combined issues tend to escalate these types of problems. Hope things turn back around for you though. Link to comment
evan127 Posted May 24, 2016 Author Share Posted May 24, 2016 Hey Greg! How are you? I didn't get any of the new stuff from "you know who local guy". That was all the old stuff causing me problems. This build is with Carib Sea sand and BRS Reef Saver. I've rinsed the new Reef Saver rock a few times now. Phosphates have been consistently zero, which isn't a surprise. I might get started on this swap out sooner than later. I'm alright looking at white rock for a bit Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 Been super busy the last few weeks, but otherwise, am enjoying life. But good calls on the change of sources for your rock/sand! I only ever go out to the desert and get my own rock, and even then, don't trust it entirely. Lord only knows how many tanks the stuff collected, and the resold, have been thru. Or the horrors they have witnessed. lol Link to comment
jstuver Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 I would stay away from the local stuff too! I know the heated debate and I am on the side of Nikki as she did a ton of research on it. Plus "the other guy" and I hardly ever see eye to eye;) Link to comment
evan127 Posted May 24, 2016 Author Share Posted May 24, 2016 Who's Nikki and what research has she done? I'm super curious! All of that Utah oolitic "reef safe" sand was the direct cause to my constant diatom outbreaks. The "local guy" and I have been getting into some pretty heated debates recently. He's been crazy and spewing bs and I can't take it anymore. Greg, are you starting a new system soon? Link to comment
evan127 Posted May 25, 2016 Author Share Posted May 25, 2016 Today marked the 2nd birthday of my reef. 90% of the reef went through a crash in early May. So I thought today was very fitting to start version 2.0! The new aquascape is in Stay tuned! Link to comment
evan127 Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 I am trying to decide if I should start a new thread for the new reef, or just continue with this one. Everything is looking good Link to comment
evan127 Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 Just added 7 fish My current problem is where to put all these frags.... Link to comment
evan127 Posted May 28, 2016 Author Share Posted May 28, 2016 Thanks Jackie! I want my rock work to get a little darker before pictures Link to comment
evan127 Posted June 1, 2016 Author Share Posted June 1, 2016 I might have found out why some corals continue to STN. Sediment in my sand. Just did a 100% sand cleaning along with a 15 gallon water change. Anyway, here is a small teaser. Still deciding if I should do a full new thread or keep GSLR going, but with a slightly new name. Any input? Link to comment
evan127 Posted June 3, 2016 Author Share Posted June 3, 2016 Package from BRS is arriving in just a little bit Link to comment
evan127 Posted June 6, 2016 Author Share Posted June 6, 2016 Why is it that raising my nitrates and phosphates is so difficult for me? Ugh! Link to comment
evan127 Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 Little update: Recently my acroporas have still been receding. I thought it was too clean of water as my nitrates and phosphates have been undetectable. Coupled with the few 100% water changes after the new sand was put in and low nutrients, I thought the lighting (which hadn't been changed since Janurary) was too high and stressing out my acros. I've had the Radion cranked down to 45%, using the same program, and increased my feeding by a ton (fish food and coral food). I've added a ton of new fish. I only skim 12 hours a day now. The acroporas are still receding. I was at a loss as to why they were still loosing tissue. I took one of the frags out of the water yesterday to inspect it. Flatworms. Yep, flatworms. I guess it should have been a huge red flag that it was only my acropora affected. I have some Zeo Flatworm Stop rushing to me as we speak. NO3 - 0ppm. PO4 - 0.00ppm. dKH - steady 9. Ca - 420-440ppm. Mg - 1300. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Oh man that sucks... Bummer. Hope that package arrives soon! Link to comment
4x5 Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Have you tried dosing nitrates to boost them? Also, personally I'd lower your KH, I like to roll around 6-7 with low nutrients. Link to comment
evan127 Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 I've looked into it, but can't figure out really what product to use. I know calcium nitrate and potassium nitrate are good to increase nitrate, but to buy it in pure forum I'd probably be put on a watchlist somewhere haha. I am going to lower my alkalinity to about 7.5dKH. I just got some dosers installed feeding 24 hours a day. I've reduced the daily dosage from 40ml to 38ml. I am going to test alkalinity in a minute here and probably drop the dose to 35ml per day. Link to comment
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